While the overall rate of insolvencies has increased 12%, the number of firms in the non-food sector, including DIY, home and garden retailers, that failed in August, remained relatively unchanged from last year.
According to Experian's latest business insolvency rate figures, 84 firms in the non-food sector failed last month. The figure represents a marginal 1.2% increase on August 2010 but still accounts for just 0.10% of the total business population in the non-food sector - the same percentage that was recorded last August.

The financial strength score of businesses in this sector also remained fairly constant, with a marginal decline at 77.51 compared with 78.84 recorded last August.

Meanwhile, the building materials sector, which includes manufacturers of building products, saw a 233% increase in its insolvency rate, with 13 firms going bust last month. The figure represents 0.27% of the total business population in the sector - a significant increase on the 0.08% recorded last August.

However, like non-food firms, the financial strength score of businesses within the building materials sector remained fairly flat, down to 78.93 from the 79.81 recorded last August.

Encouragingly, the insolvency rate across all sectors in the UK was at its lowest point for five months in August, at just 0.8%. However, the figure of 1,563 firms that went under last month represents a 12% increase when compared with the same period in 2010.

Large companies, with more than 500 employees saw the lowest insolvency rate at 0.09%, with just eight firms going under in August, while smaller businesses, with between 11 and 25 employees, recording a vacancy rate of 0.21%.

A regional split was also still evident, with the north east and west midlands reporting the highest rate of insolvency in August at 0.11%, compared with the south west at 0.06%.